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Senator Martinez Says Goodbye

MIAMI — Senator Mel Martinez hinted at a health care forum on Tuesday afternoon that this would probably be his last public event.

“I’ve been very honored to be your senator,” the Republican senator said to local politicians, health care professionals and others invited to Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, the heart of Cuban-American Miami and home to some of his most loyal constituents. When he suggested that this would be his final public appearance, the audience stood up and applauded.

The senator took many by surprise earlier this summer when he announced that not only was he not seeking a second term, but he wanted to quit as soon as Gov. Charlie Crist could name a replacement. The Republican governor, who is running for Mr. Martinez’ seat himself, did just that last week, naming his right political arm, George LeMieux, as the appointee.

At the health forum, Mr. Martinez was joined by Senator John McCain and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, all of whom voiced their concerns over President Obama’s health care reform proposals – particularly the public option for health care.

“The fact is that government-run health care doesn’t work all that well,” Senator Martinez said.

Throughout the forum, the senators also focused on the costs of the program, which is an estimated $1 trillion in additional federal spending over 10 years. Senator McConnell said other things could be done before spending such money, like improving Medicaid and Medicare.

“We should target the problems and not rewrite one-sixth of our economy,” he said.

Audience members brought up issues like medical malpractice lawsuits, high costs of prescription drugs and the prevalence of medical fraud in Florida.

After the hour-long discussion, the senators repeated to reporters that legislators needed to return to the drawing board for health care reform with input from Republican representatives.

“It deserves a bipartisan approach,” Senator McCain said. “We want to work with the president and Democrats.”

Senator Martinez plans to leave his Senate seat soon. In a statement upon Mr. LeMieux’s appointment, he said he would be available to help with the transition. At the forum on Tuesday, he said he was excited to get back to the private sector.

My father who was on Medicare for fifteen years prior to his death loved it and praised it. Mr. Martinez has and will be on his governemnt run health care for life. Is he willing to forego it and save us taxpayers some money? Get out in that free market system Mel and compete with everyone else.

Ironically, Mel Martinez said: “The fact is that government-run health care doesn’t work all that well.”

Actually, it is Mel Martinez that didn’t work out so well. The fact is, all of the top rated healthcare programs in the world are government run, but Martinez has never been one to let something as inconvenient as facts get get in the way of his confabulations.

Since all of the Republican Senators have sold their souls to the crooked corporate CEOs of the multi billions of dollars health care industry. I am happy to see him go. May he retire and enjoy his generous government pension and government health care benefits. Benefits that fewer and fewer Americans have due to the policies of the Republican Party who only serve the very wealty . To the middle class working people all the Republicans offer is lies and scare tactics aimed at getting ignorant people angry and emotional over things that are not even true.

Read the wikipedia entry on the money honey to see how well she did on Celebrity Jeopardy.

Bartiromo, McCain, McConnell, and Martinez are disgraceful shills for the death-by-spreadsheet health scare industrial complex. McConnell still believes we have the best health care in the world. This says otherwise, Mitch:

Obama is trying to keep campaign promises,none of health reform was a surpriseexcept the base of GOP going nuts,they need some serious meds….The end of ur story where Mcain says yes we want to work with Pres and Dems is a lie,Repub’sonlywant “it” their way they never compromise,so what’s the point,I am sick of hearing the dems always compromiseing yet still get nothing, Mcain whom wanted to freeze all spending except Military to fix the economy,right now there would be a great depression x 2 if Mcainwould have won,and all those old people on Social sercurtiy and medicare would be dieing for care.

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